Volume 1, Number 720 September 2018

"And don't be fooled by the final scoreline. South Africa were absolutely done in by Nigel Owens." – Mark Reason, Stuff New Zealand.

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How Faf de Klerk is causing headaches

One of the enduring memories of Saturday's game was seeing the diminutive Springbok scrumhalf take out players far bigger than himself - in one case I think it was a prop (I forget which one) that he drove backwards in the tackle.

And the match stats bear that out. According to the Rugby Stats app on my smartphone, South Africa made 39 dominant tackles on Saturday while New Zealand managed only four – two each by Liam Squire and Ben Smith.

For the Springboks, Faf and Pieter-Steph du Toit each made four dominant tackles while four other players (Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Franco Mostert and Jesse Kriel) each made three. It’s probably one of the few stats that the Springboks dominated in the game but in a RugbyPass article, Ben Smith has singled out Faf for special mention.

Describing his approach as an “NFL-style defence”, Smith writes that it is causing headaches, clearly both on and off the field. “His ability to make big plays on both sides of the ball gives the Springboks a unique player no other team has.”

But therein lies the rub: As brilliant and effective as Faf is, who do we have to back him up? The revolving door in the scrumhalf position on the bench is evidence that this is one of Rassie’s big conundrums. And this is something that Smith has noted.

It is probable that the All Blacks will single him out for special attention in the return fixture at Loftus in about ten days.

Will Rassie have conceived a plan by then? So far, he has considered Faf’s former Lions teammate Ross Cronje, as well as the Blue Bulls’ Embrose Papier and Ivan van Zyl, none of which have been deemed good enough to start ahead of Faf.

It’s not as if he doesn’t have options, South Africa has six quality scrumhalves doing duty for clubs in Europe:

Dewaldt Duvenage (Treviso)Cobus Reinach (Northampton)Francois Hougaard (Worcester)Rory Kockott (Castres)Ruan Pienaar (Montpellier)Piet van Zyl (Stade Francais)

But none of them is a Faf, so,  who will Rassie try next?

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Has rugby gone soft?Unlocking the Boks DefenceJourney Through the Stats

REGULAR FEATURES

Examining the Laws of the GameAnalysing the Referee in NZ vs SAThe Rugby Weekend Ahead

 

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Has rugby gone soft?

The headline above hints at a common refrain, particularly among former players who like to say the game was a lot tougher in the old days. And yes, it may well have been but we didn’t have television cameras at every game and it wasn’t always possible to spot, often after the fact, foul play and sanction the offending player(s).

To illustrate this, consider the shoulder charge by All Black captain Kieran Reid on Francois Louw, late in the game on Saturday. Not only did he not use his arms in cleaning out Louw, but he also appears to have come in from the side. Nigel Owens didn’t seem to notice this infringement.

In days gone by, only the pundits with access to video footage that could be played over and over would have known about it. But we live in a different world now, where even school rugby is televised [Check out the YouTube channel School Sport Live – Ed.] 

 

But now, thanks to technology and the internet, it has potential to go viral on social media and force the citing commissioner into action. Then again, World Rugby seems to have different  rules for New Zealand.

But I digress. All Out Rugby has a superb article that discusses, in some detail, if rugby has gone soft. Personally, I don’t think so: It’s just as tough as it always but there are more eyes on the game now.

 

Journey through the stats: how did they do it?

Perhaps the most consistent message to come out of all the analysis of last Saturday’s stunning victory over the All Blacks in New Zealand had to do with the match statistics.

Whichever way you look at them, the stats were almost completely against the Springboks and yet the only one that really counts is the final score.

Certainly, the All Blacks made a lot of uncharacteristic errors but these were largely forced because the Springboks had closed down their space, putting on pressure that resulted in two intercept tries and a number of other errors. At the same time, and as the Planet Rugby article linked to below suggests, it’s perhaps the stats within the stats that provide the answers.

For example: “In the first-half, we counted 64 structured phases of New Zealand possession, of which only 34 made it over the gainline. By contrast, South Africa had only 25 phases, but 18 made it over the gainline.”

The bottom line is that hoary old chestnut: New Zealand had many more opportunities but South Africa made the few they had count more. Read the full analysis here.

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Unlocking the Boks defence

A huge thanks go out to Oom Rugby for highlighting the excellent analysis of the Springbok defence by New Zealand’s Ben Smith.

It is indeed a very thoughtful and useful analysis and may give the All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, some ideas – if he needs any – on how to counteract that defensive system in the return fixture on 6 October.

It may also give Australia head coach, Michael Cheika, some ideas for his team’s match in Port Elizabeth next weekend. One thing is certain, after Saturday’s fantastic win against the All Blacks, the Springbok team the Wallabies come up against won’t seem like the same team that was defeated in Brisbane, even if most of the personnel is the same.

It’s quite ironic, however, that after disastrous results in Australia and Argentina, where Springbok defensive frailties were clearly evident, that a New Zealander should be writing, just a couple of weeks later, and with apparent praise, about the self-same defensive system.

Two weeks would appear to be a very long time in rugby these days.

 

Boks move up the world rankingsFollowing a fantastic away win against the champions of the last two years, the All Blacks, the Springboks have risen to fifth in the world rankings. Meanwhile, Australia has dropped to seventh after its defeat, at home, to Argentina in the self-same Rugby Championship.

Looking at the table, it is conceivable that, if the Boks can bag two bonus point wins in the last two matches of the competition, they could rise at least to third place before they embark on the November tour to the northern hemisphere. It is also conceivable that, should that happen, Ireland could supplant New Zealand at the top of the pile. Then again, maybe not.

Whatever happens in the world rankings, South Africa's tour matches will be against England, France and, finally, Wales. New Zealand meanwhile begins against Japan in Tokyo, then the team flies across the world to play England, followed, a week later, by Ireland. The joker in the deck is England, which, if successful against both the Springboks and the All Blacks, should move up the rankings from current fourth spot.

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Examining the Laws of the Game

Undoubtedly, one of the most contentious parts of the game – both during play and in the debates afterwards – are around the rucks and mauls. This week, we look at the ruck and we’ll cover the maul next week.

The newly simplified rugby laws of rugby, note that the purpose of a ruck is to allow players to compete for the ball. The law states clearly that a ruck is formed when at least one player from each team are in contact, on their feet and over the ball, which is on the ground.

Importantly, the law also states that players involved in all stages of the ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips. A player that allows his (or her) head and shoulders to get below their hips in a ruck, runs the risk of conceding a free-kick to the opposing team.

Another important issue at ruck-time is the offside line. There are two: one for each team that runs parallel with the goal line through the last (or hindmost) foot in each side of the ruck. If one of those feet is on or behind the goal line, the offside line for that team is the goal line.

There is also a long list of conditions of behaviour in a ruck, which can be found on the World Rugby website.

When the Referee Gets it Wrong

Local rugby commentators tend to be reticent about criticising a referee in a match but this is not the case in other rugby playing nations. Take, for example, last weekend’s Rugby Championship match between New Zealand and South Africa.

During the match the local DStv commentators appeared to gloss over the many glaring mistakes made by Nigel Owens. And reportage after the fact makes it quite clear that the Welshman had a bad day at the office.

The primary beneficiaries of that performance were the All Blacks but even they suffered at times, apparently. But the most scathing was Mark Reason, writing for Stuff New Zealand.

He wrote: “…don't be fooled by the final scoreline. South Africa were absolutely done in by Nigel Owens. The All Blacks scored a first half try preceded by a colossal Lienert-Brown knock-on. And Owens gave the All Blacks seven consecutive second half penalties in the space of 22 minutes, half of which were absurd.”

His full post match analysis makes wonderful reading if you’re an Springbok fan but, perhaps, not so much if you support the All Blacks.

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South Africans playing overseas

Turns out that the PRO14 has a more South Africans (or former South Africans) playing in it than we spotted for the article in last week's issue. The most recent round of competition saw another ten run out for clubs in various games.

However, there are some among them who would not be eligible or, perhaps, would rather play for their adopted countries than for the Springboks. Joining Treviso’s Braam Steyn (who has already played for Italy and Glasgow’s DTH van der Merwe (who has lived in Canada from an early age) are Rob Herring and Hanno Dirksen.

Herring captains Ulster and, while born in Cape Town, has played for Ireland. In the case of Dirksen, he plays for the Ospreys and although born in South Africa, he grew up in USA and will probably leap at the chance to represent that nation.

The other eight additional players in PRO14 action this past weekend were:

 

Duhan van der Merwe (11) for EdinburghChris Cloete (7) for MunsterBrock Harris (1) and Jarryd Sage (13) for the DragonsWerner Kruger (3), David Bulbring (5) and Clayton Blommetjies (15) for the ScarletsJean Deysel (7) for Ulster

 

Meanwhile, across in England at least a further 20 South African players are on the books of clubs contesting the Gallagher Premiership.

It should be noted here that some players are away fulfilling their national duties at present and will doubtless turn out for their clubs later in the season.

As mentioned in a previous issue, Jaco Kriel (6) has signed for Gloucester but is still recovering from a shoulder injury. He has not yet turned out for the club this year. 

 

Those who have played for their clubs so far this season are:

Jacques van Rooyen (1) for BathZane Kirchner (15) for Bristol BearsFranco Marais (2), Gerbrandt Grobler (4) and Ruan Ackermann (6) for GloucesterRenaldo Bothma (7) for HarlequinsFrancois van Wyk (1), Heinrich Brussow (7) and Cobus Reinach (9) for NorthamptonJono Ross (6) and Josh Strauss (8) for SaleVincent Koch (3), Michael Rhodes (6) and Brad Barritt (12) for SaracensNizaam Carr (7) and Juan de Jongh (13) for WaspsGerrit-Jan van Velze (8), Francois Hougaard (9) and Francois Venter (13) for Worcester

Next week we’ll look at the French Top14 while still monitoring other leagues for other players with SA roots.

Click on the image for more information

 

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The Rugby Action this Weekend

With the Rugby Championship taking a break this weekend, the focus is predominately on Currie Cup and PRO14 action. The schedule for the Premier Division of the Currie Cup is alongside but there is plenty of action in the First Division, which, sadly, doesn’t appear to be televised for local audiences anywhere (Note: If we're wrong about that please enlighten us by email (address below) - Ed).

On Friday evening, the Leopards welcome the Border Bulldogs to the Fanie Du Toit Sports Ground in Potchefstroom. Later that night the Cheetahs take on Ulster in Bloemfontein in a must win encounter (after three losses) is the host are to rescue their PRO14 campaign.

On Saturday afternoon, the Currie Cup First Division resumes with Boland Cavaliers welcoming Valke to the Boland Stadium at 2pm and EP Elephants hosting the Griffons at Dispatch Rugby Club (15:30). Meanwhile, Southern Kings will be hoping to resurrect their PRO14 campaign against Glasgow in PE.

 

Last But Not Least

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See you next week. Thanks from the Rugby Team at Leopard Newsletters.

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